Award-winning poet Jacob Saenz to visit ECC Sept. 26

Elgin Community College will welcome Jacob Saenz, Chicago native, as the first featured guest of the fall 2019 Writers Center Reading Series on Thursday, Sept. 26. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. in the ECC Arts Center, Building H, Room H142, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.

Saenz’s first collection of poetry, Throwing the Crown (Copper Canyon Press 2018), was awarded the 2018 American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Prize. His poems are set in a Chicago neighborhood and explore themes of youth, masculinity, gangs, race, family, and love.

A CantoMundo fellow, Saenz has been the recipient of a Letras Latinas Residency, a Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship, and a 2019 Latinx Scholarship from the Frost Place. Saenz earned a BA in creative writing from Columbia College in Chicago. His work has appeared in Memorious, PANK, Poetry, Tammy, and other journals. Saenz also serves as an associate editor for RHINO Poetry.

All Writers Center readings are free and open to the public. A pre-reading dinner with Saenz will be held at 5:30 p.m. Books will be available for sale and signing. For dinner reservations or more information, please contact Rachael Stewart at rstewart@elgin.edu.

Writer Chaya Bhuvaneswar is the next Writers Center Reading Series guest on Thursday, Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m.

Media Contact: Elissa Kojzarek

Communications Specialist

Office: 847-214-7838

Email: news@elgin.edu

Elgin Community College (ECC) is a comprehensive public community college, one of 48 statewide. ECC serves approximately 15,000 students each year. Programs of study include 25 major fields for university transfer, more than 130 career-oriented, occupational degrees and certificates, corporate and continuing education, and a full complement of pre-collegiate courses. The three-year graduation rate exceeds the national average and the average of peer colleges. ECC awards more than 2,200 degrees and certificates each year.

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